JPH0822418B2 - Coating device - Google Patents

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a coating device used in a manufacturing process of a liquid crystal display (LCD) or the like.

(Prior Art) A liquid crystal display is receiving attention as a display device that replaces a cathode ray tube (CRT).

A liquid crystal display has a structure in which liquid crystal is injected between two glass substrates having electrodes and elements forming pixels on the surface. And each pixel is a thin film transistor (TF
The active matrix method, which can be driven by elements such as T) and metal / insulator / metal junction (MIM), is becoming the mainstream because high-quality screens can be obtained.

The technique for forming the thin film transistor on the glass substrate is directly applied to the semiconductor manufacturing technique for forming an integrated circuit on a silicon wafer or the like. Applying the resist solution is also one of a series of steps.In this step, the glass substrate is set on the vacuum chuck inside the inner cup, the resist solution is dropped on the glass substrate, and then the spinner and the inner layer are used. The cup is rotated integrally and the resist solution is uniformly applied to the surface of the glass substrate by centrifugal force.

Then, a part of the dropped coating liquid is scattered on the inner wall of the inner cup by the centrifugal force. If this coating liquid is left as it is, it will be dried and solidified into small pieces that will adhere to the surface of the object to be treated. To prevent this, attach a drain pipe to the outer peripheral wall of the inner cup,
Excess coating liquid is discharged into the outer cup through the drain pipe.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) As described above, in the conventional coating device, since the outer cup that does not rotate is disposed close to the outer side of the inner cup that rotates, the inner cup and the outer cup A turbulent flow occurs between the two, and the coating liquid once collected in the outer cup is sucked to the outside and floats in the form of mist, etc., and the particles of the floating coating liquid adhere to the surface of the object to be treated. Spot defects.

Especially in the manufacture of liquid crystal displays, a large number of transistors are embedded on a glass substrate (per square centimeter).
50 or more), and even if one of these transistors is defective, the entire board is defective. This is the production of active matrix liquid crystal displays
This is a decisive difference in terms of yield from the manufacturing of semiconductors such as LSI.

(Means for Solving the Problems) In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a coating device in which an outer cup for receiving a drain from the inner cup is arranged outside an inner cup rotated by a spinner. The cup closes the lower surface and opens the upper surface, and a holding member is arranged above the inner cup and the outer cup so as to be able to move forward and backward, and a lid for covering the upper surface of the inner cup is rotatably supported on the holding member. The lid that covers the upper surface of the outer cup is non-rotatably supported.

(Operation) A plate-shaped object to be processed such as a glass substrate is set on a vacuum chuck in the inner cup, the coating liquid is dropped on the surface of the plate-shaped object to be processed, and then the inner cup upper surface and the outer cup upper surface are covered. The vacuum chuck and the inner cup are integrally rotated in the state of being blocked by, so that the coating liquid dropped on the surface of the plate-like object to be processed is uniformly dispersed.

(Example) Below, the Example of this invention is described based on an accompanying drawing.

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a coating film forming line incorporating the coating apparatus according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the coating apparatus with its lid raised, and FIG. 3 shows the lid of the coating apparatus closed. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the state in which the film forming line is placed at the most upstream portion (left end in FIG. 1) of the plate-shaped workpiece W such as a glass substrate.
Is provided, the coating device 2 according to the present invention is disposed on the downstream side of the charging unit 1, and the reduced pressure drying device 3, the back surface cleaning device 4 for the workpiece W, and the hot plate 5a are sequentially provided on the downstream side of the coating device 2. A heating unit 5 including ... Is arranged, and the object to be processed W is conveyed from the charging unit 1 to the heating unit 5 with the lower surfaces of the front and rear ends of the object W being supported by the conveying device 6, and the heating unit 5 has a vertical surface. The object W to be processed is conveyed by the conveying device 7 that makes a crank motion inside.
While the lower surface of the hot plate is supported, the workpiece W is transported while being sequentially transferred on the hot plates 5a.

Next, details of the coating device 2 will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3.

The coating device 2 has an outer cup 23 fixed to the outside of an inner cup 22 attached to a shaft 21 of the spinner device. The inner cup 22 and the outer cup 23 have their lower surfaces closed and their upper surfaces opened, and a vacuum chuck 24 for adsorbing and fixing the object W to be processed is provided at the center of the inner cup 22.
Further, a drain pipe 25 is provided below the side wall of the inner cup 22.
Is installed. A drain recovery ring 26 is arranged inside the outer cup 23. In this drain recovery ring 26, the inner wall is lower than the outer wall so that the tip of the drain pipe 25 faces and the bottom wall is inclined to one side, and the drain recovery pipe 27 is attached at the lowest position. An exhaust port 28 is formed on the closed lower surface of the outer cup 23.

On the other hand, arms 29 and 30 are arranged above the inner cup 22 and the outer cup 23 as shown in FIG.
These arms 29, 30 are capable of linear movement, rotation movement, vertical movement, or a combination of these movements so that they do not interfere with each other. Then, a nozzle for dropping a coating liquid such as a resist liquid is attached to the arm 29, a shaft 31 extending downward is attached to the tip of the arm 30, and the arm 30 and the shaft 31 form a holding member. Bearing 32 and magnetic seal
The boss portion 34 is rotatably fitted through the 33, and the boss portion 34
A disc-shaped aluminum lid 35 for closing the upper surface opening of the inner cup 22 is attached to. A lid 36 for closing the upper surface opening of the outer cup 23 is fixed to the lower surface of the tip of the arm 30 above the lid 35.

Further, a nozzle hole 37 is formed in the shaft 31, and the nozzle hole 37 is connected to a pressurized air source such as nitrogen gas through a joint 38.

On the other hand, a current plate 40 is attached to the lower surface of the lid 35 with screws 39. The outer diameter of the straightening vane 40 is slightly smaller than the inner diameter of the inner cup 22, and the nozzle hole 37 opens in the space formed between the lower surface of the lid 35 and the upper surface of the straightening vane 40.

In the above, in order to uniformly apply the resist liquid to the surface of the object to be processed W such as a glass substrate, the upper surfaces of the inner cup 22 and the outer cup 23 are opened and the object to be processed W fixed on the vacuum chuck 24 is removed. Drop the resist solution on the surface from the nozzle attached to the arm 29, and then
29 and retract the inner cup 22 as shown in Fig. 2.
Also, the arm 30 is rotated on the outer cup 23 so that the lid 3
Face 5 and 36. Then, as shown in FIG. 3, the arm 3
When the lid 35 closes the upper surface of the inner cup 22 by lowering 0 and the lid 36 closes the upper surface opening of the outer cup 23, the spinner integrally rotates the vacuum chuck and the inner cup 22, The resist solution is uniformly diffused and applied on the surface of the object W by the centrifugal force.

Since the inner cup 22 is in a depressurized state in the above processing, in order to take out the object W to which the resist solution is uniformly applied, first, the lid 35 and the rectifying plate 40 through the nozzle hole 37. Nitrogen gas is introduced into the space between them to release the depressurized state. At this time, the gas from the nozzle hole 37 is not sprayed directly on the resist liquid on the surface of the object to be processed W because of the flow straightening plate 40.

In the embodiment, the lid 36 that closes the opening of the outer cup is attached to the lower surface of the tip of the arm 30, but it may be attached to a member other than the arm 30.

(Effect) As described above, according to the present invention, the inner cup and the outer cup of the applicator are rotated while the upper opening is closed by the lid, so that the inner cup is once collected in the outer cup. It is possible to prevent the applied liquid from becoming a mist and scattered to the outside and floating. Therefore, when the lid is opened after application and the object to be processed is taken out, it is possible to prevent the powder, which is solidified by the coating liquid floating in the air, from adhering to the surface of the object to be processed and become a defective product. Greatly improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a coating film forming line incorporating the coating apparatus according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the coating apparatus with its lid raised, and FIG. 3 shows the lid of the coating apparatus closed. It is a sectional view of the state where it was opened. In the drawings, 1 is a film forming line, 2 is a coating device, 22 is an inner cup, 23 is an outer cup, 35 and 36 are lids, 37
Is a nozzle hole, 40 is a straightening plate, and W is a plate-shaped object to be processed.

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification number Reference number within the agency FI Technical indication location H01L 21/027 (72) Inventor Michio Hashimoto Michio Hashimoto 646 Yoshii-cho, Gotsuki-gun, Okayama Prefecture (72) Inventor Kazushi Kawakami 2397-1 Higashisanari, Yakage-cho, Oda-gun, Okayama Examiner Hitoshi Miura (56) Reference JP-A-1-135565 (JP, A)

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A coating apparatus in which an outer cup (23) for receiving a drain (25) from the inner cup (22) is arranged outside the inner cup (22) rotated by a spinner. The outer cup (23) closes the lower surface and opens the upper surface, and holding members (30, 31) are arranged above the inner cup (22) and the outer cup (23) so as to be movable back and forth. The inner cup (2
A lid (35) covering the upper surface of 2) is rotatably supported, and a lid (35) covering the upper surface of the outer cup (23).
The coating device is characterized in that it is non-rotatably supported.